AAP releases list of BJP, Cong candidates with criminal cases

The Aam Aadmi Party, apparently stung by allegations of criminal cases against its prominent leaders, on Thursday released a list of candidates from both the BJP and Congress who have criminal cases pending against them.

The party also requested two prominent television channels - Aaj Tak and ABP News - to share raw data about their respective surveys/opinion polls.

As per the list, as many as 22 BJP candidates have various criminal cases against them. The Congress fared marginally better with seven candidates who had cases pending against them.

The AAP information was based on data compiled from candidates’ affidavits filed with the Election Commission by Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), a think tank known for taking up for electoral-related issues.

Other parties had raised objections to AAP’s claims of being a party of clean candidates. They said some AAP candidates - including chief ministerial face Arvind Kejriwal - had criminal cases against them.

Party leader Yogendra Yadav defended these cases, saying these had been registered during the India Against Corruption movement.

The party, later, also requested two television channels to share data about their surveys/opinion polls and posed certain questions about the methodology. “Aam Aadmi Party requests both the channels to please respond to these questions and make public the raw data filed for these surveys,” an AAP statement said on Thursday.

The two channels had carried news about opinion poll/survey on Wednesday and showing AAP in a favourable light in Delhi.